The Weekly Wrap: June 21-27

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The Weekly Wrap: June 21-27

Reading the Classics

In recent years, humanities programs in many universities excoriated “the Western Canon,” the classic works that had provided a common vocabulary for generations of educated persons. More recently, there has been a resurgence of the classics among home schoolers, and private schools. Recently, states like Texas have prescribed curricula incorporating a number of classic works. While many of these lean conservative, there are other exponents of reading the classics. Ted Gioia has created a 52-week classics reading program. Classical philosopher Zena Hitz, a tutor at St. John’s College has launched a program called the Catherine Project.

A few of my thoughts about this:

Firstly, I have a broad definition of classics including the ancient Greek and Latin writers, great works of philosophy and theology, and great works of literature spanning the gamut from Homer, to Dante, to Austen, Melville, Steinbeck, and Morrison and many more. Classics are works that have endured and are part of our ongoing civilizational conversation.

Secondly, I won’t say one ought to read the classics. Rather, the question is, how important to you is that civilizational conversation. I’ve come to appreciate reading the stories and ideas that form our cultural fabric.

Thirdly, I recognize these are human works that range from our noblest ideals to baser ones. We do need to read critically. Often that occurs in the conversation.

Fourthly, I also want to read diversely. Given our global village, I don’t just want to understand the western enclave, even though that is where I live. And I wouldn’t want to miss the explorations of human nature in mysteries, and of the future in science fiction.

Finally, I’ve discovered that there were some “great books” I read too soon. More life has brought deeper engagement with many of the ideas and stories of which I was oblivious in high school.

I say read these works not because you must but because you may. So many free or inexpensive editions exist. As for lists, I won’t prescribe any–I’m too profligate a reader for that!

Five Articles Worth Reading

Speaking of lists. A number of book critics were asked about the essential works of American literature in our first 250 years. Publishers Weekly published the results in “15 Essential Works of American Literature.”

“Diversity” is a bad word in some quarters. But in “How Babel Thrives,” David Sugarman reviews a book that studies one of the world’s most diverse communities, Queens, New York. It argues that by allowing diverse communities to live side by side without erasing differences, they’ve managed to forge a robust pluralism.

At one time, figures like Reinhold Niebuhr and Billy Graham appeared on the covers of Time. But no longer, as Ed Simon notes in “Where Have All the Protestants Gone?“

Helen Lewis, in “Paradise Revisited” re-traces Charles Darwin’s journey in the Galapagos. The essay is punctuated with gorgeous photographs and videos. In addition, Lewis gives the lie to Darwin’s brief journey being the time when he figured out natural selection, which came only on subsequent reflection.

Finally, it is actually possible to acquire a library of 20,000 volumes just studying the Greek and Latin classics. You can tour David Butterfield’s library in “The Largest Bookshelf Tour Ever Filmed: Inside a Classicist’s 20,000-Volume Library.”

Quote of the Week

Pearl S. Buck, who was born June 26, 1892, pithily summarizes the case for studying the past:

“If you want to understand today, you have to search yesterday.”

Miscellaneous Musings

I featured Theo of Golden by Allen Levi on my Facebook page. I have never had so many positive reactions to a book, especially from friends I respect for their reading judgment. That only whets my appetite to read it.

I’m starting Jill Lepore’s We The People as my America’s 250th reading. However, I don’t think I’ll finish it by July 4. The book is a history of our Constitution, an imperfect but amazing document, as crucial as ever to our national life.

Daniel Silliman’s Reading Evangelicals is an interesting study of the fiction Christians were reading over about a twenty-five year period from the mid-1980’s to the late 2000’s. I’m interested to see how he thinks those books, only one of which I read, shaped evangelical identity.

Next Week’s Reviews

Monday: Michael D. Clark, Woven Tales of Greek Mythology

Tuesday: Gerald Hiestand & Joel Lawrence, Power and the Pulpit

Wednesday: William Kent Krueger, Desolation Mountain

Thursday: Hannah King Miller, Feasting on Hope

Friday: Daniel Silliman, Reading Evangelicals

So, that’s The Weekly Wrap  for June 21-27.

Find past editions of The Weekly Wrap under The Weekly Wrap heading on this page.

Review: Pyramids

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Cover image of "Pyramids" by Terry Pratchett

Pyramids

Pyramids (Discworld, 7) Terry Pratchett. HarperCollins (ISBN: 9780063393332) 2025, first published 1989.

Summary: Prince Teppic, having completed Assassins training, returns to be Pharoah of Djelibeybi, ordering the building of a huge pyramid.

Rather than cool his heels in Djelibeybi (pronounced like Jelly Baby), Prince Teppic goes to Ankh-Morpork to enroll in assassins training in the Assassins Guild. It’s a seven-year course few survived but if he did, he could bring a lucrative income into an impoverished kingdom that spent all its money on pyramids to house it’s dead kings. It was a practice that had drained the kingdom of money and, as readers will learn, of other things as well. Once it was a great kingdom. But now it is a narrow buffer along a river valley, serving as a buffer between two rival nations.

Just as he survives and passes his final exam, Teppic senses his father, the Pharoah had died. Indeed that is the case. On returning, Teppic suddenly finds himself a Pharoah and a god, responsible for the sunrise each day. New to all this, he is advised by the venerable high priest, Dios. However, he soon discovers that Dios really runs the show, when Dios twists all his novel ideas into the established traditions.

Nowhere is this more true than in the burial of his father. He has to be entombed in a pyramid. Teppic happens to know this is not what his father would have wanted (as the old king’s spirit tries to make known). In frustration, Teppic finally orders them to build the biggest pyramid ever, double the usual size.

Little does he realize the forces he has unleashed. Pyramids are objects of power. The others flared every night. No one has ever tried to build one this big. When Ptaclusp and his sons, the pyramid builders try to do this, they discover that workers and money and materials are the least of their problems as strange forces build up to a cataclysm.

But before that happens, Teppic, Ptraci, the old king’s handmaiden, and a camel with hidden powers, escape. Looking back, they see the kingdom vanish into a mere crack in the ground. Suddenly, nothing stands between the rival kingdoms which prepare to go to war.

Meanwhile, Djelibeybi still exists, just in another dimension. But all kind of craziness has ensued, beyond even Dios’ powers, which in fact are considerable. The dead kings walk the realm, as do the gods whose existence they usually ignored and disbelieved.

Will Teppic act to save his kingdom? Or will he take the opportunity to ride off with the pretty and scantily clad handmaiden into the sunset? I’ll leave it to you to find out.

Once again, this is a Terry Pratchett romp between fantasy and satire, showing religion at its silliest while making us ask, what would happen if the gods really showed up? And all those pyramids? Pratchett leaves us to wonder if the real Pharaohs would equally have hated the idea. And perhaps it all was just a poke at the silliness of “pyramid power”!

Review: Remember the Sweetness

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Remember the Sweetness

Remember the Sweetness, Polly Giantonio. Rootstock Publishing (ISBN: 9781578693993) 2026.

Summary: A debut poetry collection capturing memories of beauty, loss, love, and family, both ordinary and profound.

When one thinks of “debuts” one often thinks of a budding young artist. However, what one encounters in this debut collection of poems are the reflections of one who has lived with life’s joys and vicissitudes. This allows Polly Giantonio to remember young love, view paintings in a gallery, or glimpse the seeming commonplaces of rural Vermont life with a richness of lived experience.

The collection opens with “The Praying Mantis.” We see with her the greenness of the “emerald queen,” hands cupped like “a baby sleeping” who is yet part of the “mystics in meditation.” We go blueberry picking with her. And we remember with her being toddlers with blue stains on our cheeks gobbling palmfuls of blueberries.

Other poems are memories of youth. “Surprise” reminds us of being sick at home when a parent brought something special. “The Dandelion” traces an arc from childhood to her own motherhood and the challenge of releasing a child.

She remembers in “Beyond” launching out in life, parting from Mom to go to art school. She discovers the adult challenge of halting “the ticker tape of life’s chatter.” Paintings figures in several poems, one by Bouguereau, another by Hopper, and a third by Rodin, The Kiss. While the mother notices the man’s hand on the woman’s hip, the child is focused on a caterpillar!

The most poignant of the poems describe moments as Giantonio walks with both parents and her brother toward their deaths. Presence with each of them recalls the past, whether her “teenage shitshow” with her father or her first smoke with her brother, dying of “damaged lungs.” Most striking is the moment shared at her mother’s vanity bench. Her mother gives her a string of pearls, a gift from Polly and her father. Then she looks at her “head of chemo fuzz,” decides she needs some red lipstick, and then asks Polly to use this for her viewing.

Some poems capture the contemporary realities we face. What climate change will mean for our grandchildren. Isolating together during Covid. In another, we hear the virus’ chilling prophecy: I am a virus that will mutate and survive.

Yet life’s harsh realities fail to overshadow the everyday wonders of owls, “October’s Confetti,” “Winter Thaw,” and the “Peony.” Giantonio captures the preciousness of our lives including our rebellions and mistakes, the hard and sacred work of accompanying the dying, and the appearances of beauty that points to “something more” in our lives. This debut collection features the mature insight of one who reflects deeply on her life, her family, and her place.

_____________

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers Program.

Review: Ordinary Time

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Cover image of "Ordinary Time" by Amy Peeler

Ordinary Time

Ordinary Time (Fullness of Time Series), Amy Peeler. InterVarsity Press | Formatio (ISBN: 9781514009680) 2026.

Summary: The significance of Ordinary Time within the church calendar and how it has been practiced and what it can mean for us.

“Jesus’ life would have included many ordinary days, days in which he was simply walking from one place to another.”

Amy Peeler, having visited the Holy Land, came to this realization. We tend to think of the big, redemptive events in Jesus’ life. But so much of life for him, as for us, was ordinary. There were days where Jesus, asked about what he did that day, may well have said, “Nothing.” And perhaps that is good. We need time to reflect upon the extraordinary, to allow it to work deep into the marrow of our lives.

In the development of the church’s liturgical year, the largest portion of time is apportioned to “ordinary time.” This includes the time between Epiphany and Ash Wednesday and from Pentecost to Advent. In this book, Amy Peeler explores the significance of Ordinary Time, and that it can be a different season of growth, quieter and deeper, amid the quotidian events of “normal life.” She observes that the weekly prayers (Propers) remind us of God’s provision in the challenged of life. And, positioned between the celebrations of Christ’s birth, and his death and resurrection, the lectionary frames our own progress through life within that of Christ’s.

After introducing the idea of Ordinary Time, Peeler uses seven words or phrases to capture the richness of this season.

Green. It’s the liturgical color of this season. Green signifies growth and reminds us of God’s work in us from baptism on in forming us to be more like Christ. We learn increasingly to walk in freedom rather than in slavery to sinful desires, patiently, day by day.

Bold. Mary’s visit to Elizabeth, the Visitation, falls within Ordinary Time. But what was bold about this visit? It’s not in the women’s status, which is humble. Rather it is in Mary’s “Magnificat” that boldly proclaims God’s sovereignty that topples the powerful and exalts the humble. And not only that, it is the prayer used daily in evening prayers. The church joins in the bold proclamation of the greatness of our Lord.

Triune. The first Sunday after Pentecost, the first of Ordinary Time is Trinity Sunday. The doctrine is complex. But our worship reminds us that our call is not to master this doctrine but to celebrate the Three in One. Peeler then reflects how the Ordinary Season is laced with affirmations of the being and activity of the Triune God, culminating in weekly Eucharistic prayers.

Feast. Peeler reflects on her move from Baptist to Anglican churches. Far from weekly celebrations of the Eucharist being perfunctory, she walks through the service, and describes her own awe in officiating.

Image of God. This chapter and the next two consider the Genesis accounts of Abraham. Not only do Abraham and Sarah and Hagar see God, but God sees them. He sees his chosen, created in his image. And thus, these stories challenge us to affirm God’s image in others and ourselves.

Trust. While God promises a child to Abraham and Sarah, they act in untrusting and unseemly ways with Hagar and Ishmael. Yet God works in what seems a tragic situation to teach each of them to trust him. Then Peeler invites us to consider how we are learning to trust God.

Gratitude. So, how do we come to gratitude in the test in which Abraham obeys the command of God to sacrifice Isaac, only for God to restrain him and direct him to a ram? For Peeler, the answer is in how it previews the work of Christ. God does what he prevents Abraham from doing. While that is indeed cause for thanksgiving, I wonder about other elements of Peeler’s account. At very least, there is a question of whether Isaac returned with Abraham and his servants. Genesis 22:19 mentions only Abraham returning to the servants. In Genesis 24:62, he is living in the Negev, separate from Abraham. I still wonder if Isaac was the willing victim, or whether there was a struggle. The text is silent, but I note that afterwards, Isaac separates from Abraham.

Peeler concludes with Christ the King Sunday, the last Sunday before Advent. The feast reminds us, amidst the kingdoms of the world, of Christ’s coming rule, toward which we live every day.

This book is a marvelous guide to Ordinary Time. It is not time when nothing is happening, where we mark the days until Advent or Lent. Rather it is the time we grow quietly in our identity as God’s image bearers. It is a time to grow more like Christ in trust and thanksgiving as we regularly partake of Christ. We learn to see the Trinity woven through the church’s life and to boldly hope and witness to the work of the sovereign King.

_____________

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: Race, Class, and Affirmative Action

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Cover image of "Race, Class, and Affirmative Action" by Julie J. Park

Race, Class, and Affirmative Action

Race, Class, and Affirmative Action, Julie J. Park, foreword by Liliana M. Garces. Harvard Education Press (ISBN: 9798895570456) 2026.

Summary: The effects of SFFA v. Harvard on efforts to advance diversity in college admissions and what may be done.

Race-conscious admission, in which an applicant’s race is one of the numerous considerations in admissions, has been one way colleges have recruited racially diverse student classes. In 2023, the Supreme Court ruled to restrict race-conscious admissions in two landmark cases. These were Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) v. Harvard and SFFA v. the University of North Carolina (UNC), Chapel Hill. The impact was immediate and dramatic with huge drops in the enrollment of underrepresented minority (URM) students at many schools.

Julie J. Park, who has studied race-conscious admissions efforts over 20 years wrote this book to address the admissions landscape, the scope and impact of the SFFA rulings, and the tools universities still have to advance diverse admissions. To begin with, it is important to understand how Park uses the term “race-conscious admissions.” She writes:

“In conventional race-conscious admissions, an admissions reader could view a student’s self-identified racial/ethnic identification as listed on the application. However, one’s race/ethnicity did not provide the applicant with any sort of automatic advantage in the admissions process. Instead, the reader had direct knowledge of a student’s race/ethnicity and could use it to contextualize a student’s experiences, enhancing understanding of how a student might contribute to the diversity of a student body. Contrary to popular opinion, being a URM student did not result in automatic admissions” (pp. 6-7).

This is very important to keep in mind for Park’s discussion of the SFFA rulings.

But first, Park addresses some of the ways the admissions system was broken even prior to the ruling, most of this not related to race-conscious admissions but impacting racial diversity on campus. This includes legacy admissions, out-of-state enrollments at state schools, early application and admissions, enrollment management programs, and the lack of diversity among admissions professionals.

Then Park turns to the ruling. What is key here is to distinguish the actual ruling from the hype around it. Specifically, Park notes that demographic data cannot be use in consideration of an applicant. However, Justice Roberts allowed that “nothing in this opinion should be construed as prohibiting universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise.” In other words, readers can consider what applicants write about their racial experience but not demographic data. Likewise, counselors and teachers can talk about a student’s race in their recommendations. Also, despite policies extending this to other aspects of campus life, the ruling only addresses admissions. And universities may still collect racial data, important to Title VI reporting. They simply can’t use that in admissions.

Park discusses other implications as well, but the key takeaway for me was the narrowness of the ruling. However, the challenge is that both legal counsel and administrators will often obey laws that don’t exist, especially in a climate where state and federal governments are actively oppose diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. Park notes that it takes courage leadership to do otherwise.

Park goes on in the remaining chapters to discuss the tools that universities still have (at present). She assesses efforts to focus on economic factors and other “race-neutral” approaches. She commends the model of the UC Davis School of Medicine, a multi-faceted approach. Park considers a number of incremental changes including outreach, contextualized GPAs, “push-out” financial aid offers, or even free tuition programs.

Then she turns to the debate over standardized testing. It’s complicated, but Park teases out evidence that test-optional or test-free admissions do result in increased applications from URM students. While standardized test takers with high scores tend to have higher GPAs, test-optional or test-free students evaluated on other factors do nearly as well. Intriguingly, in test-free situations, readers tend to make a more holistic assessment.

Park also considers the inequalities that must be allowed for in other aspect of the admissions process. These range for extra-curricular activities for which URM students may have less opportunity, to the attention given to recommendations from public versus elite high school teachers and counselors.

Park has focused her research on the effects of changes in diversity on student experience. So it makes sense for her to include a chapter in this book discussing how diversity affects student experience. Notably, she also advocates for diversity in faculty hiring, not addressed in the ruling. She advocates for the structures that support student diversity including cultural centers, living-learning programs and student organizations.

As she closes, passionately arguing, “we won’t go back,” it struck me that one of the most important arguments she makes is for a mindset of abundance. While there are only so many slots at a Harvard, this country has a plethora of schools where a student can obtain a high quality education. State schools could prioritize in-state students as opposed to chasing tuition lucrative out-of-state enrollments. She highlights the investment Mackenzie Scott has made in HBCUs. Surely, if we believe in sustaining our national greatness, expanding the opportunities for all our citizens should go without saying.

One of the backstops Park refers to for pursuing racial diversity is Title VI enforcement. I wonder what the implications of shifting enforcement from the Department of Education to the Department of Justice will be in our current politicized climate. This is a development since the book’s publication.

One of the most useful aspects of this book is to parse out what exactly the SFFA ruling does and doesn’t prohibit. We don’t want to obey laws that don’t exist. While the effect of SFFA was chilling, Park shows that schools still have many options available to them. My sense is that we can take none of these for granted. And we may have to fight for many of them.

I also appreciate that Park, combines evidence-based research with a passion for racially diverse campuses. Likewise, rather, than using the abbreviation DEI, throughout the text she spells out diversity, equity, and inclusion, emphasizing that this is what race-conscious efforts strive for and that this is a good thing. We can afford to be generous and expansive as a nation in the education of all our citizens. Park is right: we can’t go back.

_____________

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review of other books by Julie J. Park:

When Diversity Drops: https://bobonbooks.com/2014/02/25/review-when-diversity-drops-race-religion-and-affirmative-action-in-higher-education/

Race on Campus: https://bobonbooks.com/2018/11/14/review-race-on-campus/

Review: Heaven and Hell

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Cover image of "Heaven and Hell" by Edward Donnelly

Heaven and Hell

Heaven and Hell, Edward Donnelly. Banner of Truth. (ISBN: 9781800405325) 2025, first published 2002.

Summary: A discussion of the traditional doctrines of hell and heaven that we might flee hell and embrace the hope of heaven.

For many of us who believe in some form of existence after death, we hope it will be in some form of “heaven.” And in many cases, we don’t want to think of the “other place,” unless it is for the truly evil like Hitler or Pol Pot. Many struggle to reconcile the idea of a loving and saving God with a place of everlasting punishment. In this book, Edward Donnelly helps us to “think about the unthinkable” as well as bring clarity to what we know of heaven, how we might be sure of going there, and how truly glorious such a future hope is.

The first half of the book is about hell. He begins by addressing why think of the unthinkable. In addition to the massive weight of biblical testimony, he argues that we need to weigh the sober content of the doctrine, that it concerns us directly, and there is a clear way of escape available for all. He also argues for this study because of the massive unbelief in hell, even among supposed “evangelical” Christians. Underlying all of this is our self-centeredness that denies the reality of sin and the holiness of God.

Then, Donnelly turns to examine the biblical evidence, showing that it is a real place created by God and a place of just and everlasting punishment. It is for the devil, his angels, and for those who do not believe. He shows that it is not Satan but God who rules over hell. But isn’t everlasting punishment too severe? The ultimate argument is that without hell, the cross makes no sense. If sin were a trivial matter, the sacrifice of the cross makes no sense. Likewise, he addresses the contention that a loving God wouldn’t create hell. He observes that God is holy as well as loving. and also that love doesn’t overlook evil. And finally, a merciful remedy exists by which no one need go to hell. Rather, than torment us, scripture warns us of hell that we might embrace the remedy!

Furthermore, the destruction is everlasting, the same word use to speak of everlasting life. He describes bluntly what it is like to be utterly separated from God, from all the goodness even those who do not believe now experience. and he discusses what those in hell suffer. While scripture uses imagery (flames, darkness), the reality is still a real experience of pain, even if not never ending fire. But what are the implications for those who believe? First it encourages us to put sin to death. Then, it means we live with contentment in all circumstances. Third, it calls us to a serious, though not gloomy approach, realizing we live among those headed toward a Christless eternity. Fourthly, it fosters a deeper appreciation of Christ. Fifthly, it lends urgency to our witness.

A couple comments. One is that it seems this book assumes those who have never heard are headed to hell, as far as I can tell. I would argue that scripture is silent on this other than to urge us to reach the unreached. I would leave their final fate to God’s just judgement. The other is I would have liked to see more of a case against annihilation, which is only mentioned to dismiss it as an example of evangelicals who argue against everlasting conscious punishment. While I would agree on the basis of biblical texts, not least of which are the statements of Jesus, that there are good reasons to affirm traditional view, those like John Stott have advanced biblical arguments for annihilation, that I would like to have seen addressed thoughtfully.

That said, this part of the book offers one of the clearest modern statements on the biblical teaching on hell and judgment. Furthermore, it makes the case for why we do well to flee to Christ and for the urgency of our witness.

Then Donnelly turns to heaven. He begins by observing that while many believe in heaven, we find those beliefs are often superficial. He explores both the reasons for our neglect and why the glorious hope of heaven matters. Again, he presents the biblical teaching about heaven. Donnelly emphasizes that heaven exists first of all for God’s glory, that both heaven and earth were created for God’s glory. But human rebellion diminished that glory. God has worked to restore that glory through calling a people, redeemed through Christ. Then he proceeds to show how Christ is the heart of heaven’s blessings. He is the Lamb who was slain and has conquered death.

Donnelly goes on to speak of how we will be like Christ. He makes us perfect, sinless, raises us bodily, in glory and power. Above all, he delights in us. Finally, he speaks of our fullness of joy. We, who are new creations, dwell in a renewed creation, even more beautiful than earth’s greatest beauties. We enjoy family relations with all God’s people–a large, varied, united, attractive, and satisfying family. And we will enjoy both rest and service in worshiping God with all our being and gifts.

I suspect some will object to Donnelly’s unapologetic statement of the doctrine of hell. Yet there are many unpleasant things in life we are better off knowing about. By knowing we can avoid them. Also, setting hell and heaven side by side points up the incredible gift Christ has made possible at great cost. It makes clear both the fearsome reality of hell, and that none of us need go there. God has made available a remedy offering a far better future. If true, we’d have to be crazy to neglect it.

_____________

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

The Weekly Wrap: June 14-20

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The Weekly Wrap: June 14-20

Fathers, Read with Your Children

On Fathers Day, we honor fathers. But fathers may use the day to think about the kind of fathers they have been. We could go all sorts of places with that but on this page, I focus on the “reading place.”

I loved all sorts of things as a father–camping with Scouts, tossing a ball or shooting hoops in the driveway, geeking out together on computers.

I think for men to read with their children is one of the best way to foster children who read. Especially men reading with boys models to boys that reading is something men do.

But mostly, it was just a wonderful memory:

  • Snuggling up on the sofa where we would read stories.
  • Savoring a really good story together, like the first time we read Jane Yolen’s Owl Moon.
  • As our son learned to read, listening to him read.
  • Working our way through long adventures, like The Lord of the Rings
  • Creating different voices for the various creatures in the Winnie The Pooh stories.
  • Going to the bookstore or library and picking out books.

I’m convinced that children who have had enjoyable experiences reading with a parent often become readers.

And fathers, if you want bonus points, let your children see you reading for your own enjoyment and enrichment. It doesn’t need to be heavy reading, but if you are holding a book or magazine at least some of the time, rather than engaging in screen time, that will carry more credibility than limits on kids screen time.

A special Happy Fathers Day to all the reading dads out there!

Five Articles Worth Reading

Most bibliophiles include books in their vacation packing. But for some, bookish destinations are shaping their vacation plans. Read about it in “Call It a ‘Book-cation’ or a ‘Readaway,’ Literary Travel Is Having a Moment.”

Perhaps as part of reading up on our history as America approaches its 250th is to read up on our religious history. Jon Butler reviews Brook Wilensky-Lanford’s A God-Shaped Nation: Five Hundred Years of Religion in America in “Religion, American Style.” This might be a summer-long read, coming in at 672 pages!

Speaking of history, yesterday was Juneteenth, the holiday in which we celebrate the arrival of Union troops in Galveston, TX, announcing Emancipation on June 19, 1865. This is an old article, arguing “Juneteenth Should Be a National Holiday: Readings in Black History and Joy.” It now is, since 2021, but the collection of readings helps us understand the significance of the day for African-Americans and celebrate with them.

Marjane Satrapi, author of Persepolis and a fierce advocate for freedom died last week at 56. Hillary Chute chronicles her persevering pursuit of human rights in “The Defiance of Marjane Satrapi.”

Finally, as I was assembling this post, news of the U.S. 2-0 victory over Australia in the World Cup came across my feed. I’m not a big soccer (football in the rest of the world) fan even though I live in a city with an MLS team. But I’ve seen some of the changes, good and not so good, chronicled in “Can Soccer Be Normal in America?“.

Quote of the Week

I’ve long advocated that there is no freedom to not be offended and that people do not offend us. Rather, we choose to be offended (but there are other options). Salman Rushdie, born on June 19, 1947, expresses this well:


“What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist.“

Miscellaneous Musings

I am among those who have grieved the lack of a genuinely non-partisan celebration of our nation’s 250th birthday. It was not strictly non-partisan, but I was heartened to see both political parties represented at the opening of the Obama Presidential Center. In the democratic values expressed and the joyous celebration, I wonder if it is the closest we will get to a 250th celebration that transcends our political divides.

One of the things I also love about the Obama Presidential Center is the inclusion of a new Chicago Public Library branch on the grounds, an expression of the couple’s longtime commitment to literacy, especially literacy efforts with children.

My Fathers Day weekend reading includes William Kent Krueger’s Desolation Mountain. Apropos, I love seeing how Cork O’Connor continues to grow as a father with his children as they become adults.

Next Week’s Reviews

Monday: Edward Donnelly, Heaven and Hell

Tuesday: Julie J. Park, Race, Class, and Affirmative Action

Wednesday: Amy Peeler, Ordinary Time

Thursday: Polly Giantonio, Remember the Sweetness

Friday: Terry Pratchett, Pyramids

So, that’s The Weekly Wrap for June 14-20.

Find past editions of The Weekly Wrap under The Weekly Wrap heading on this page.

Review: When God Seems Distant

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Cover image of "When God Seems Distant" by Kyle Strobel and John Coe

When God Seems Distant

When God Seems Distant, Kyle Strobel and John Coe. Baker Books (ISBN: 9781540905321) 2026.

Summary: How God’s path of growth takes us into the desert, the way it exposes our self-will, and how we abide in God’s love.

One of the things that often accompanies new life in Christ is a deep sense of God’s presence, what the authors of this book call consolation. Often, experiences of worship, Christian community, personal Bible study and prayer deepen that sense. Until it doesn’t. How ought we understand and respond to that? We wonder if it is something we did. Then, if that’s not the case, we double down on the things that gave us a sense of God’s presence. Or we look for new practices.

Kyle Strobel and John Coe describe how this happened with them. It felt like they were in a dry place, a desert. And they discovered that these times of desolation, just as much as consolation, come from God. Specifically, God takes us into such times to expose deeper patterns of sin. He also takes us into learning to abide in Him rather than engage in sin management or self-improvement efforts. We learn to trust God rather than experiences or a set of practices. But its scary, just like being weaned.

The authors then address the “self-willed spirituality” that the desert teaches us to unlearn. Over five chapters, they explore different ways the self-will manifests. First, they discuss self-generated passion and experiences of excitement and devotion to generate a sense of God’s presence. Second, they turn to how we deal with brokenness in our lives, either by coverups or by trying to “fix” ourselves. Underlying this is pride. The desert exposes these, inviting us to draw near to be forgiven and loved. Third, we resort to goodness, the path of moralism. We use goodness to win God’s favor and then struggle under the burden of conscience when we fail. Again, in the desert, God invites us to come close and to let him do what we can’t.

Fourth, we try devotion. The authors observe, “There is a massive difference between using God to fix your life and knowing that Christ is your life” (p. 124). Paradoxically, we can either use spiritual practices in a self-help fashion or as a means to wait upon God. Lastly, and this has been implicit throughout, we try to fix ourselves rather than let our awareness of our inadequacy move us to surrender, to openness to what God’s Spirit would do.

The final part of the book, then, emphasizes the alternative to self-willed spirituality. It is the spirituality of surrender, of coming with all the mess the desert reveals. It is drawing near, not to an idea of God but God himself. We come not because we love, but that he has loved us in Christ. The book then concludes with five paths that individuals and churches might take in response. Particularly striking were those addressed to churches as a whole that often fail to address the desert, and to pastors.

I found the honesty about the desert as a normal part of Christian experience helpful. Many of our churches make people feel themselves failing in some way if they are experiencing this. Rather, they should be teaching people “desert spirituality.” Also, the second part of the book was so helpful in identifying our self-help strategies that we embrace in pride, rather than bring our messy selves to God. Finally, there is the wonderful news that all this is to teach us to abide in and rest in God’s love, whether there are feelings or not. God wants us to grow into a resilient trust.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers Program.

Review: I Cheerfully Refuse

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Cover image of "I Cheerfully Refuse" by Leif Enger

I Cheerfully Refuse

I Cheerfully Refuse, Leif Enger. Grove Press (ISBN: 9780802165190) 2025.

Summary: In a dystopian America, Rainy and Lark carve out a joyful life until tragedy sends Rainy on a Lake Superior odyssey.

I don’t typically select books this way. Looking at a table of new works at my local store, the cover art of this book caught my eye. The description sounded like a modern day odyssey. And the author was from Minnesota. Having had a good experience with another Minnesota author, William Kent Krueger, I thought I’d give Leif Enger a try. I’m so glad I did, though amid the goodness, truth and beauty of the story was heartbreak and terrible darkness.

The setting is Lake Superior in a not-too-distant future America. Societal order, the economy, and the climate have collapsed. The country is controlled by sixteen multi-billionaire “astronauts.” Some semblance of societal order is maintained by pharmaceuticals developed aboard “ships of horror.” Children are rated on a “feral scale” and medicated. And if it all becomes intolerable, a little slip of paper with a drug called “Willow” will help you end it all. And some are having “Willow” parties. Libraries have closed and books are becoming an increasingly scarce commodity.

Rainy and Lark have somehow carved out a joyful life together. He’s a big bear of a man who paints houses, plays bass guitar, often with a local band, but sometimes just to comfort his friends. Lark is a former librarian with a big heart and a passion for books. She runs a second-hand bookstore in a bakery, scouring estate sales for book collections. Lark taught Rainy to sail, going to a place called “The Slates,” where they had a somewhat mystical encounter they believed was with Molly Thorn, thought to be dead. Consequently, they buy and re-hab an old sailboat.

Lark, in her open-heartedness brings home a fugitive, Kellen. He has run away from one of the pharmaceutical ships. Perhaps the fact that he had in his possession an unpublished work of Molly Thorn’s, I Cheerfully Refuse, sufficiently seals the deal and he stays with the couple. But tragedy strikes the night of Lark’s birthday. Kellen has disappeared. After a futile hunt, he returns home to find his home destroyed, and Lark brutally murdered. A stranger, an older gentleman, who he later learns is Werryck, ran the ship Kellen had fled, and has been around the town, and through the book, has traced Kellen to their house. That’s why Kellen has gone.

Not only that, Werryck is after Rainy. Whatever they tore up the house looking for is still missing. So, Rainy takes to his boat. The only destination he can think of is “The Slates,” hoping perhaps he will find Lark there. Along the way, he is joined by Sol, a young girl he rescues from an abuser, buying her with his bass. Together they endure Superior’s terrible storms, scrape together an existence, outsmart a corrupt bridge operator, and search for an old relative who once cared for her.

The novel asks the question what kind of people will we become and what kind of communities will we form when the societal order fails? Along the way, amid the corruption, Rainy and Sol will find outposts of goodness. But what kind of person will Rainy, who has lived by goodness, supporting his friends, become? He faces his greatest test when he becomes Werryck’s captive.

Rainy’s sailing journey on Lake Superior strikes me as a modern-day Odyssey. Will he, in the end, find home? And how will the journey have changed him? Also, not unlike Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower, Enger confronts us with a very possible dystopia, asking us what kind of people we would be in such times. He does all this in a compellingly beautiful story.

Review: Story Work

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Cover image of "Story Work" by GG Renee Hill

Story Work

Story Work, GG Renee Hill. Broadleaf Books (ISBN: 9798889832652) 2025.

Summary: How telling and reframing our stories in writing not only leads to self-discovery, but also to finding our voice and calling.

We not only love stories but our lives are stories. But how we understand those stories, the story we tell ourselves and others about ourselves, matter greatly. And how we become more fully ourselves has to do with telling truer stories of ourselves–not those imposed upon us but those that come from within us. In Story Work, GG Renee Hill takes us through how reflecting on, reframing. and re-writing her own story has been key to her growth into pursuing her calling. And she invites us to follow her example with writing prompts at the end of each chapter relating to the chapter contents.

But first, just a bit of her life (and there is a lot more in the book). She grew up in Pittsburgh in a two-parent family, close to both parents until her mother descended into schizophrenia. Suddenly, hugging her dad was perceived as sexual flirtation. That strained her relationship with both of them and led to an enduring estrangement from her mom. What was she to think of herself? Was mental illness in her future?

As she unfolds that story, she traces her own journey of self-discovery as she writes her story. She begins by inviting the reader to journal and live their own questions, identifying the beliefs that might be limiting. Then she goes on to ask us to look closely at one of the events that reflect self-limiting beliefs and ask ourselves what else could be true. The final chapter in this section on “Roots and Origins” encourages us to take a story of tragedy and defeat and drawing from seven basic plots, developing a new storyline.

Part II of the book focuses on the theme of “Truth and Lies.” She begins by reflecting on the masks we wear and how this hides our authentic selves with our highs and lows from ourselves and others. These reveal clues to our values, and she invites us to write those moments and the values they reveal. One of the challenges of writing our stories, however is that we are “unreliable narrators.” She explores the ways we deceive ourselves and invites us to write on unwanted, repeating patterns and how our responses have changed over time.

But part of our stories is also understanding our strengths and superpowers. What makes us different is what gives us strength. So, she invites us to identify those differences from those around us and how these might be strengths, as well as weaknesses and how we might support the former and manage the latter. Finally, in “Nothing is Ever Lost” she addresses our losses and griefs. She proposes that loss and grief can speak and she offers five exercises to explore loss in our stories.

In Part III, “Voice and Vision” she considers how we might become active agents in our own stories. Hill begins by discussing how “Words Matter.” She illustrates that in a conversation with Aunt Mimi where she learns that “I’m not good at math” isn’t really what she is saying. Rather it is that “math is hard.” She’s challenged to think that she might become good at things that are hard. Here, she invites us to counter limiting beliefs with actionable value statements to achieve aspirations. Then, she turns to “life as a creative process.” She offers a four step creative process to pursue. Finally, in “Love and Fear” she invites us to surrender to our emerging calling. This includes both naming our fears and affirming what we love.

Hill models the power of writing to help us understand and re-frame our stories. In her vulnerable and honest account, she encourages us to shed the masks and self-deceptions behind which we hide from ourselves. She also helps us pay attention to our loves, our distinctives and our values. Then she invites us conceive them as central to the plotlines of our stories. For those who already like to write and journal, this book might lead to new self-exploration. Likewise, for others at one of those junctures where we are re-thinking our lives, this might be a helpful tool. As a society, we need to tell better stories. GG Renee Hill helps us begin to do that with the stories we tell of ourselves.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers Program.